Not your normal wheel question...

[Lord Stanley]

Ok, my father had a junky '99 Contour which had brand new tires on it... Since mine were worn we swapped them... Only difference is that mine were 185/70 R14, where as the other ones were 185/75 R14... Now the new ones have a bigger diameter, therefore won't my odometer/speedometer be off? I did the calculations - going one mile in my old tires is like going one mile and 150 feet in the new ones for the same number of tire rotations... It is also the same as going one extra mile about every 35 miles... Is this going to be a problem (besides me putting less miles on my car)? :shrug: I mean, some people lift their trucks and put double the size of stock tires on, LOL...

EDIT: One more thing, how much are you supposed to torque the standard lug nuts too? I thought I read 52ft/lbs somewhere, but I can not find where...

 

[mcgarvey]

The difference will be negligible. Maybe 1-2 MPH at 65. Certainly no more.

And yes, people put huge tires on their lifted trucks, but they change the rear-end gearing to make up for it. Otherwise you'd be constantly lugging the engine.

And regarding your torque question: If you're talking about steel wheels, go with around 100-110 ft lbs. The important part is that they are torqued EVENLY, otherwise you risk warping your rotors.

Alloy wheels should be torqued to approximately 75-90 ft lbs. I torque mine to 90, and then retorque them after a few days. 52 ft lbs. doesn't sound like enough for any application, I'd be afraid of the wheels falling off.

 

[Lord Stanley]

Yea, I have a GL so steel wheels... I can not remember where the heck I read 52ft/lbs... You are almost spot on, it is like 2 MPH at 70... I will just have to make sure that I drive a tad bit slower, LOL...

EDIT: Oh yea, one more thing... How much would it cost to reset the speedo, just out of curiosity?

 

[beyondloadedSE]

Tire diameter is approximately 2.9% bigger. At 60 mph, youll read about 61.7 mph.

 

[Lord Stanley]

Wow, you were right... I guess in my mind my torque thoughts were off... I knew my father did not tighten them enough, well they were at 50-60 ft/lbs, LOL... So I just tightened them up to 100 ft/lbs...